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Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus are the Forces of Nature, the Legendary Genies, three clouds from Gen 5. According to legends, Tornadus the wind and Thundurus the thunder caused so much destruction that Landorus the ground had to punish them and restore peace. Quite ironic for the most offensive of the trio. They all share the flying type, Tornadus being the only pure flying Pokemon, Thundurus being another Zapdos and Landorus another Gliscor. While the first two have a base stat total of 580, Landorus goes up to 600, being the first member of a trio stronger than the other two since Rayquaza. Finally, they share another particularity: they have two forms each, one Incarnate form and one Therian form. By switching their forms outside battles, they change their base stats but also their abilities.

Tornadus and Thundurus share the exact same stats and abilities under their Incarnate forms: 79/115/70/125/80/111, with either Prankster (their non-offensive moves gain +1 in priority) or Defiant (raises attack by 2 stages when one of their stats is lowered). The few differences are in their typing and movepool. Tornadus and Thundurus are basically fast special sweepers, with a useless ability that raises their attack and an ability we see way too often that hax lovers worship. They separate from each other in their Therian form: Tornadus gains Regenerator, that restores one third of its max HP on switch-out, and lowers its offensive stats to raise the defensive ones and the speed, for a result of 79/100/80/110/90/121, making it more balanced: faster, bulkier, can regain HP and still strong. As for Thundurus, it gains the ability Volt Absorb, restoring 25% of its max HP while hit by an electric move, and granting it electric immunity. Thundurus loses a bit of attack and speed to boost its special attack, but its bulk doesn't change: 79/105/70/145/80/101. Now you have a better special attacker that can still rely on a scarf to deal heavy damage, and remember it has only two weaknesses, so the average bulk keeps it balanced (hello there Mega-Sableye).

Landorus is different: it's the physical one, and has a slightly better bulk. The Incarnate form has a stat set of 89/125/90/115/80/101. Landorus doesn't need to be as fast as Thundurus or Tornadus, it has bulk and power. With Sand Force it can raise the power of rock, ground and steel moves by 30% in sandstorm, but it mostly runs Sheer Force: all its moves with a secondary effect gain 30% of power (and that effect is cancelled). The thing about Landorus is that, despite its attack being higher than special attack, the Incarnate form is always run as a special attacker because Landorus' special moves with a secondary effect have more power than the physical ones, making it more reliable on the special side. Another effect of Sheer Force is that while activating, it also deactivates the effect of items such as the opponent's red card, rocky helmet or its own life orb, thus increasing its power even more for free. High power, good bulk, and only two weaknesses (yet a double ice one), watch out.Under its Therian form, Landorus is finally the great physical sweeper it was meant to be. By losing special attack and speed, it gains a base attack of 145 while keeping all its bulk and getting the ability Intimidate: lowers the enemy's attack by one stage on switch-in. So, good bulk, two weaknesses, the base attack of Mega-Gyarados and the possibility to spam Intimidate with one or two partners to become a professional coward or the equivalent of a school bully. Get your Ice Shard ready folks!

How to play them?

[img][/img]Tornadus Incarnate: UU tier, playable in UU. I had a support set but there's so much better to do with it. Physical or special attacker, it's up to you. First the physical set: either ability is fine. If you choose Prankster: give priority to Bulk Up and Rest for reliable staying power, and combine those with a Chesto Berry. Then, unload Acrobatics. The last move is up to you, Knock Off just in case, or Brick Break for screens, or Sleep Talk if you want to use Rest twice. 252 Atk 252+ Speed 4 SpD. If you run Defiant, you can play it with no item and a fully attacking set: Acrobatics, Knock Off, and coverage moves such as Iron Tail, U-Turn, Superpower… it's up to you.If you prefer your Tornadus special, you need Prankster, Tornadus doesn't abuse Prankster to block others anyway, it ain't Sableye, Whimsicott, Thundurus… A life orb is fine, but as your main STAB move is Hurricane (accuracy 70), you need to make sure it hits. On that purpose, you need Rain Dance, because it gives Hurricane perfect accuracy. Then get a coverage move between Grass Knot, Focus Blast and Heat Wave (if it's not raining yet), and for your last move you can get either Tailwind to prepare your next Pokemon or Taunt to remain an annoying prankster or staller that they're on a battlefield and they came to fight. 252 SpA 252+ Speed 4 SpD.

Tornadus-Therian: OU tier. Get either an assault vest or a life orb, with Hurricane as your main move. Second move, either Focus Blast or Heat Wave. Then, U-Turn to take profit of Regenerator (but don't spam it) and for your last move, Rain Dance or Taunt if you have life orb, Knock Off if you have assault vest. Better not bother learning Rain Dance, you can play Thundurus in a rain team instead. 252 SpA, 252+ Speed, 4Atk.

[img][/img]Thundurus Incarnate: OU tier. Some of them are annoying, combining Prankster with Thunder Wave. Seriously why do they even need it? Thundurus is faster than Latios or Gengar! Anyway you don't need to use it like Sableye would. My Thundurus set uses Prankster only for Nasty Plot. Then you can unload Thunderbolt, Discharge or even Thunder if you play it in a rain team (maybe even with Tornadus). For the rest you can invest on coverage, with access to Focus Blast, Hidden Power, Grass Knot to counter the likes of Swampert or Quagsire. Use the item you want, life orb is good but as you already use Nasty plot it isn't necessary. Leftovers are also a nice option since you lost some HP while using Nasty Plot. Or even a Sitrus berry. Finally a berry that weakens an ice or rock weakness (Yache/Charti berry) can work well, feel free to try those. 252+ Spe 252 SpA 4 SpD

Thundurus-Therian: BL tier. To compensate its speed loss, a choice scarf works well. Many users run Volt Switch, but I didn't feel the need to. My Thundurus-T set is: Thunderbolt (or Thunder if I have a rain team), Hidden Power Ice, Flash Cannon and Dark Pulse. Those coverage moves are also usable on Thundurus Incarnate of course. 252 Spe 252+ SpA 4 SpD.

[img][/img]Landorus Incarnate: Uber tier. They took all its advantages very seriously (and yet others remain forgotten). Better play it in monotype, with Primal-Kyogre, Kyurem-White and Xerneas in Ubers Landorus won't last long. Better run Sheer Force and combine it with either a choice scarf or a life orb. In monotype Landorus remains really useful, with moves like Earth Power for a powerful STAB, or coverage moves like Sludge Bomb/Wave, Psychic, Focus Blast, which all gain power with Sheer Force. Grass Knot is also an option against Swampert, Seismitoad, Gastrodon, Quagsire, Hippowdon… You can complete your set with Stealth Rock, Landorus is bulky enough to take a good hit while setting rocks, and then hit hard thanks to Sheer Force + life orb, giving it a power boost of 69% for free (except Grass Knot which will only get 30% from life orb). 252 SpA 252+ Spe 4 SpD. To counter Landorus Incarnate, better get a scarfer or a really bulky guy with a powerful water or ice move (such as Mega-Blastoise or Regice), or Mirror Coat. Aggron and Bastiodon can even OHKO it with Metal Burst (they can take an Earth Power thanks to Sturdy). A banded Ice Shard might work too. In Ubers well, Xerneas doesn't even need a weakness, one Geomancy then one or two Moonblasts should do it. Primal-Kyogre, Palkia and Greninja should OHKO it, and a Genesect-Douse with Techno Blast or a Mewtwo with Ice Beam do it with ease. Lugia can also stall it out.

Landorus-Therian: OU tier. Still not Uber while being at least as dangerous as its Incarnate form? Oh well I'm used to it… Choice scarf or leftovers. Earthquake for STAB, then get two coverage moves between Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Knock Off, U-Turn (don't spam voltturn though), Brick Break, Superpower, Outrage… For the fourth move, I'd say either Stealth Rock or Swords Dance. 252 Atk 252+ Spe 4 SpD. To counter Landorus-Therian, I'd say the best way is a scarfed water or ice move, or a strong Ice Shard. You can burn it with a Prankster, or try something as bulky as Mega-Blastoise (takes an Earthquake, Water Pulse GG), Avalugg (can take at least two Stone Edges, Avalanche GG), Regirock (Counter GG), eviolite Piloswine (takes an Earthquake or Stone Edge, Curse + Ice Shard GG). Intimidate Gyarados going Mega, Dragon Dance + Waterfall GG. Besides Gyarados, those counters aren't seen very often in OU, but watch out for them in monotype. I don't know about others but if you run into me, well, I use them all (except Prankster + Will-o-Wisp and Intimidate Gyarados), good luck.

Those legendary clouds are all useful and strong, and sometimes fun to use or fight, though Thundurus and Landorus can become annoying as Hell. Landorus-Therian has become one of the Pokemon I've sworn never to use in any tier lower than Ubers. However I still like most of their forms, and I think Tornadus is somewhat majestic.

By Champion Blackwolf. I do not own the pictures. Next topic: Scrafty, tomorrow.

good article n_n Just want to say that superpower's also good on tornadus-t to hit special defensive heatran, chansey and ass vest raikou. And thundurus can run a mix set with superpower and knock off also to break through special defensive pokemon and can discorage defog user cuz you would run defiant on that variant. Also the best counter for land-t is definately not mega gyarados because landorus-t can easily stone edge on the switch in when you haven't mega and u-turn out when you do. The best counter would be physical bulky water, grass type, and pokemon immune to ground that's not weak to its coverage, like rotom wash, mega slowbro, skarmory and tangrowth. And for landorus-I, choice scarf genesect with ice beam would be a much better check than genesect douse. And also aggron can't really counter landorus-I cuz the pokemon needs to be able to switch in to be a counter. And aggron and bastiodon aren't even hard check cuz hazard pretty much ruins them. Most rock type monotype team also lacks a hazard removal. And it said sludge bomb/sludge wave for coverage but you would never run sludge bomb on landorus-I cuz sheer force negates secondary effect anyway. Good work n_N

You're right, I neglected stallers, but I trust bulky offensive Pokemon a little more. Take one hit, hit once and kill. Landorus-Therian has nothing on Avalugg, and dies after one Avalanche. Curse Piloswine, trust me, you don't want to fight it with physical It's the ace of my ice mono. About Aggron and Bastiodon, well, I'm not worried. In rock, you have Aerodactyl with Defog, in steel you have Skarmory or Forretress. And in case Sturdy is ruined, well, I activate my Aggronite, get Filter and spam Metal Burst. About Thundurus, it's a really good idea, Superpower on a Defiant set. But I wouldn't actually use it against Chansey because I'm not sure it would actually OHKO it, and when you teach your whole league to run Counter on Chansey, well, you don't really want to hurt it badly without killing it

aerodactyl's kind of bad at defoging tho cuz it's really frail and weak to stealth rock itself and mega aggron is OHKOed by earth power. And avalugg is a good counter to land-t, it's just the only place they will ever meet is monotype. And avalugg is kind of a staller XD. At least a lot more passive than tangrowth. 252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 240 SpD Filter Mega Aggron: 347-409 (100.8 - 118.8%) -- guaranteed OHKOsuperpower can't ohko chansey but it's the only way to do crap to chansey XD cuz chansey usually wont expect a superpower and it's mainly for hitting it on a switch in